The Latest: Tennis Great King Says Double Standard In Tennis

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):

11:15 p.m.

Billie Jean King says there’s a double standard in tennis when it comes to rules applied to women compared to men.

Serena Williams was penalized a game for calling the chair umpire a thief during an extended argument as the U.S. Open women’s final. Williams clashed with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, demanding an apology after he initially issued a warning for a code violation in the second set’s second game for receiving coaching, which is not allowed during Grand Slam matches.

(1/2) Several things went very wrong during the @usopen Women’s Finals today. Coaching on every point should be allowed in tennis. It isn’t, and as a result, a player was penalized for the actions of her coach. This should not happen.

(2/2) When a woman is emotional, she’s “hysterical” and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s “outspoken” & and there are no repercussions. Thank you, @serenawilliams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same.

The USTA says the decision by the chair umpire to hit Serena Williams with code violations is final and the actions were not reviewable.

Williams received a warning from umpire Carlos Ramos for receiving coaching; was assessed a second code violation for racket abuse, which required a point penalty; and got hit with a third code violation for verbal abuse in the judgment of the umpire, which then required a game penalty.

Williams called Ramos a thief during an extended argument in women’s final.

The WTA says it will look into the dispute between Williams and Ramos.

Patrick Mouratoglou acknowledged coaching during the match, which is a rules violation. Ramos saw it and issued Williams the first of three code violations she received in her 6-2, 6-4 loss to Naomi Osaka.

Williams reacted angrily, telling Ramos she doesn’t cheat. The ensuing penalties would first cost her a point, and then a game.

Mouratoglou says that “in 99 percent of the cases, he would have told Serena, ‘I’ve seen your coach do a movement and tell him to stop, otherwise you’ll have a warning. And I don’t understand why he didn’t do that, where all the other chair umpires do this all year long, including him.'”

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7:10 p.m.

The WTA says it will look into the dispute between Serena Williams and chair umpire Carlos Ramos.

Williams was penalized a game for calling the chair umpire a thief during an extended argument as the U.S. Open women’s final. Williams clashed with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, demanding an apology after he initially issued a warning for a code violation in the second set’s second game for receiving coaching, which is not allowed during Grand Slam matches.

“There are matters that need to be looked into that took place during the match,” the WTA said in a statement.

The WTA said Williams and U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka both have “great integrity.”

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5:40 p.m.

Naomi Osaka won the U.S. Open to become the first Grand Slam champion from Japan, beating Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 after the American was penalized one game for a third code violation.

Williams was given three code violations by chair umpire Carlos Ramos, the third leading to an automatic loss of a game in the second set.

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5:25 p.m.

Serena Williams was given a second violation, this one for smashing her racket, and again yelled at the chair umpire who had given her a first warning for coaching.

The second code violation cost Williams a point, meaning Naomi Osaka had a 15-0 even before hitting her first serve in the sixth game of the second set.

Williams had been given a first violation by Carlos Ramos for coaching earlier in the set, telling him that she’d “rather lose” than cheat.

She resumed that argument after the second violation, still angry about the first violation. She unwrapped a new racket and then took the court to argue again some more about coaching.

“You owe me an apology,” she said. “I have never cheated in my life!”

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5:05 p.m.

Serena Williams angrily responded to a code violation for coaching by telling the chair umpire that she’d “rather lose” than cheat.

Williams was given the violation by Carlos Ramos of Portugal in the second game of the second set while Naomi Osaka was serving.

Williams approached the chair and told Ramos that she was not being coached but rather being given a thumbs up from her box, which she said she not have been a violation.

“I don’t cheat to win. I’d rather lose,” she told Ramos.

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4:55 p.m.

Naomi Osaka has won the first set over Serena Williams in the U.S. Open women’s final, 6-2.

Osaka ran off five straight games after Williams held serve to open the match.

It was another dominant start for the 20-year-old native of Japan, who has dropped just one set en route to her first Grand Slam final. She has lost only 30 games in her seven matches.

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4:20 p.m.

Serena Williams has begun play in her 31st career Grand Slam final, and Naomi Osaka her first.

Williams is trying for her 24th major singles title, which would tie Margaret Court’s record. Osaka is trying to win Japan’s first Grand Slam singles title.

Williams, who will turn 37 later this month, would break her own record for the oldest Grand Slam women’s champion. Osaka, 20, would become the youngest U.S. Open champion since Maria Sharapova was 19 in 2006.

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3:45 p.m.

Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka will play the U.S. Open women’s final with the roof closed at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Tournament officials announced that because of a high probability of rain from the afternoon through evening, the roofs at Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadium had been closed and would stay that way for the remainder of Saturday’s play.

Matches on outer courts that were affected by rain were to be moved indoors.

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2:40 p.m.

Alison Hughes will become the second female umpire to chair a U.S Open men’s singles final.

She’ll be the first woman to ump a men’s singles final since Eva Asderaki-Moore chaired Djokovic vs. Roger Federer in 2015.

Of the five main draw finals, four will have been chaired by a female umpire this year.

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2 p.m.

Jamie Murray won his second straight U.S. Open mixed doubles title, teaming with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to beat Alicja Rosolska and Nikola Mektic 2-6, 6-3, 11-9.

Murray won last year with Martin Hingis and she was in the box Saturday to cheer the doubles team at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Murray became the first man to win consecutive U.S. Open mixed doubles titles since Bob Bryan in 2003 and 2004.

The 32-year-old Murray, brother of former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Andy Murray, played with Mattek-Sands for the first time in the tournament. Mattek-Sands has also won mixed doubles Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and the French Open. Murray had three other Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

Rosolska and Mektic also played together for the first time in what was the first all-unseeded doubles final at the U.S. Open since 2009.

Murray and Mattek-Sands received $155,000 for winning the championship.

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12:30 p.m.

A year after giving birth, Serena Williams has made a memorable run to another U.S. Open final, where she will play first-time finalist Naomi Osaka of Japan on Saturday with a chance to win a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title.

Williams lost in the Wimbledon final, but has given herself another chance even faster than perhaps she could have imagined last September. She had four operations following the birth of her daughter, Olympia.

Williams has won six of her 23 major titles in New York, and with a victory would equal Margaret Court’s record. On the other side, the 20-year-old Osaka could be the first Grand Slam singles champion from Japan and the youngest women’s champion at the U.S. Open since Maria Sharapova was 19 in 2006.

Williams hasn’t won the U.S. Open since 2014 and hasn’t won anywhere since the 2017 Australian Open, when while pregnant she became the oldest Grand Slam female champion at 35.